A
big thanks must go to that superest of Kewpies, Charley, for encouraging
me to write this. My last four years with my husband of 35 years were not
easy. His small stature and huge thirst finally caught up with him. A larger
man could have probably maintained his beer drinking ways, but nobody that
small was ever meant to consume that much beer. As always, the gods smiled
on him because his mind was the first thing to go. Fortunately, we kept
a sense of humor and the girls learned, “Don't pay any attention to Grandpa.
He never knows what he's talking about.” Sound cruel? Not if you have a
man with an obsession about flies yelling at little girls to, “Close that
@#$%% door!”

We've
got a thousand of them, but that's not what this is about. Charley visited
“Garverland,” the mini-farm I bought about 2 months after his death. His
reminisces about happier times let me to go back in time to remember what
had made me, a self-avowed sports nut, to be so attracted. I finally dug
out the old album that his mother had made. I'm going to let Charley scan
any articles he wants into this page. (Betcha he picks the picture of the
Columbia Merchants winning the junior division championship with one “Charles”
Blackmore on the team.)

I
had trouble following the articles because his mother didn't include datelines.
Basically, there were three divisions. The first one I chuckled at because
of Freddie's stature or lack thereof.

This
was Jeff Jr. Cyclone freshman basketball. Apparently, Norman Maze was the
star and Freddie Garver popped in a lot of outside jumpers. If there were
any losses, Mom didn't memorialize them.

The
next group were of Khoury league baseball. I had originally thought these
occurred first until I scanned an article that said Freddie and Kenny Ash
dueled several times in close games and were teammates for the first time
at Hickman. My favorite headlines were: “Garver Cinches Fourth Victory
on Grand Slam,” “KFRU Pitcher Racks Up His 2nd No-Hitter in Khoury Play,”
and “Garver Takes Ninth Win As KFRU Ties for Lead.” We'll skip the one
where Kenny Ash beat him 1-0 with a no-hitter.

The
last section is Kewpie baseball when Garver and Ash finally got to be teammates.
The headline writer tended to get a little hyperbolic with headlines beginning:
“Kewpies Slam....”, “Kewpies Sweep” with the top line Ash, Garver Winners.”
Of course my favorite is, “Garver Hurls No-Hitter As Kewpies Win.”

These
all happened before I met Freddie and anyone who knew him knew that he
was death on bragging. Our boys would get lambasted if they ever boasted.
The only way I knew of these things was through this album. He never mentioned
them. Although Freddie did a lot of things wrong in his life, his belief
that, “If you're good enough, you don't have to brag on yourself. Others
will.” is one that would help a whole lot of young athletes coming up.

Thanks
to the class of '64 for including me in your group.

Mary

1963 Kewpie Baseball Team (10-2)The HHS Sophomore Basketball Team (Year
of the 1962 State Champs)Freddie's memory is preserved at the
new "Busch Stadium"
On behalf
of all of the members of the West Boulevard gangwho
spent their "lazy hazy crazy days of summer" playing Indian Ball at West
Boulevardand
just playing baseball most everyday.Freddie
was part of that gang that we will never forget.Freddie,
my old friend, rest in peace in your new "Field of Dreams."Save
me a bat! cb
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